Blog Directory CineVerse: April 2018

There's something about "There's Something About Mary"

Sunday, April 29, 2018

On May 2, Cineversary returns to CineVerse, when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of “There’s Something About Mary” (1998; 119 minutes), directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly, chosen by Bob Johnson.

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The jewels--and justice

Thursday, April 26, 2018

"Gaslight" proved to be a fitting closing statement on CineVerse's exploration of the Gothic romance subgenre these past four weeks. While the movie lacked the ornate and brooding Gothic architecture that often fills the settings of these stories, all the other tropes and conventions of this movement were on full display, as detailed in our post-discussion notes below. Here's our take on "Gaslight":

WHAT DID YOU FIND DISTINCTIVE OR DIFFERENT ABOUT GASLIGHT THAT YOU APPRECIATE?

  • It functions as both a thriller and a tense character study, according to reviewer James Berardinelli. A big part of the fascination of this film is watching Bergman’s character fall under her husband’s spell due to her innocence and naïveté. 
    • He wrote: “But no film…can match this picture's intricate psychology. Paula's self-doubt builds slowly as her husband meticulously orchestrates her spiral into insanity. Since she's completely in his thrall, she never senses that he represents a threat.” 
  • It has a stellar cast, featuring two strongly romantic leads: Bergman, then considered a ravishing beauty and A-list actress, who won her first of three best actress Academy Awards for this part, and Charles Boyer, known for playing suave and sophisticated romantic male characters (here playing against his protagonist image as an antagonist), as well as an Oscar-nominated Angela Lansbury (in one of her first screen roles) and Joseph Cotten. 
    • Blogger Rob Vaux wrote of Boyer: “Boyer’s reputation as an onscreen lover defined his career (Pepe Le Pew, the cartoon skunk, is a direct parody of his persona), and he deploys that reputation to devastating effect here. He remains charming, seductive and seemingly sympathetic throughout: appearing for all the world like a caring human being dedicated to a very sick wife.” 
  • This film underscores the terror that women suspected of being even slightly mentally ill must have felt during this patriarchal period in Victorian England, when they had few rights and could be accused of being hysterical and sent to asylums. Director George Cukor, known for directing women’s pictures featuring strong female leads, is arguably the right filmmaker for this movie. 
    • “Cukor, a closeted homosexual, understood that better than most men I think, and endeavored to use it to accentuate his heroine’s plight,” Vaux added. 
  • Boyer’s husband character plays into a familiar epitome found in 1940s-era films noir, the “psycho dandy.” 
    • Senses of Cinema essayist David Melville defined this character as “An immaculately groomed gentleman of refined taste and nonexistent morals, who would turn without scruple to murder to possess the object of his desire. Other examples of this type are Clifton Webb in Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944), George Macready in Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946) and Eric Portman in Corridor of Mirrors (Terence Young, 1948). He can be traced back to the darker strains of Romantic literature. Each of these men is implicitly gay or, at least, asexual. He may seek to possess Gene Tierney or Rita Hayworth…as a sort of living art object – to dress her and groom her and transform her into his own aesthetic fantasy. He does not, by any stretch of the imagination, want to have sex with her. The script may pretend otherwise, of course – but only to keep the censors quiet. Boyer’s role in Gaslight is an intriguing variation on this type.…The husband is a man whose primary erotic response is not to women (or even to other men) but to jewels – to priceless and coldly exquisite objets d’art.” 
THEMES EXPLORED IN GASLIGHT:
  • Alter egos and dual natures: consider how Bergman is compared to her dead aunt and contrasted with Angela Lansbury’s younger and more erotic character. 
  • Psychological abuse, marital manipulation and erotic sadism 
  • Duplicity and deceit 
WHAT GOTHIC ROMANCE SUBGENRE CHARACTERISTICS DOES GASLIGHT INCLUDE?
  • A brooding house filled with dark secrets 
  • A doomed/haunted relationship 
  • High contrast noir-ish lighting 
  • An isolated female protagonist 
  • A servant who plays a somewhat important role 
  • Class differences between the male and female leads 
  • A suspenseful story imbued with mystery and intrigue 
OTHER FILMS THAT GASLIGHT BRINGS TO MIND:
  • Movies within the “young heroine believes she’s threatened by the man she loves” subgenre, including Rebecca, Suspicion, Undercurrent, Conspirator, Sorry Wrong Number, and Dial M For Murder 
  • The Lady Vanishes, by virtue of both pictures featuring Dame May Whitty 
  • Hitchcock’s Notorious 
OTHER FILMS BY GEORGE CUKOR:
  • The Philadelphia Story 
  • My Fair Lady 
  • A Star is Born 
  • Holiday 
  • Adam’s Rib 
  • The Women 
  • Little Women 
  • A Double Life

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Love and fright by "Gaslight"

Sunday, April 22, 2018

On April 25, CineVerse's gothic romance Quick Theme Quartet concludes with “Gaslight” (1944; 113 minutes), directed by George Cukor

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May/June CineVerse schedule now posted

Friday, April 20, 2018

CineVerse has a lot of exciting and thought-provoking films plan for viewing and discussion over the next several weeks. To view the brand-new May/June 2018 CineVerse schedule, click here.

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No mere plain Jane

Thursday, April 19, 2018

In many ways, the 1943 film version of "Jane Eyre" plays like a mashup between "Wuthering Heights" and "Rebecca," two earlier gothic romance movies that share similar themes, characters and atmospheres. But "Eyre" could be the darkest of the three in tone, visuals and plot. Among the trio, this picture, directed by Robert Stevenson, is typically the most overlooked and underappreciated. But it has merits and facets well worth rediscovery. Here are the talking points we explored at last night's CineVerse outing:

WHAT STANDS OUT AS NOTABLE, IMPRESSIVE OR EVEN UNEXPECTED ABOUT THIS FILM?

  • The filmmakers took a longer, sprawling novel and pared it down to its essential elements for a more digestible and entertaining film experience.
  • It has a strong pedigree: consider that it stars Orson Welles and Best actress Academy award recipient Joan Fontaine; the memorable score is by Bernard Herrmann; the screenplay was co-written by John Houseman and Aldous Huxley; respected cinematographer George Barnes was responsible for the lighting and look; and, before he sold the rights to 20th Century Fox, David O. Selznick was the producer. 
  • Some film historians and scholars suggest that Welles may have contributed in helping to direct the picture:
    • “Stevens and cinematographer George Barnes often frame things in much the same way Welles and his cinematographer Gregg Toland did in Citizen Kane or how Welles and Stanley Cortez approached The Magnificent Ambersons. While the use of deep focus is somewhat limited, at least when compared to the "excesses" of the Welles films, there are striking angles and incredible chiaroscuro lighting in abundance throughout this Jane Eyre,” wrote Bluray.com reviewer Jeffrey Kaufman.
  • The score by Hermann is quite memorable and romantic, imbued with his characteristic leitmotifs and strong themes.
  • The picture is rather nourish visually in its use of low-key chiaroscuro lighting, canted angles, and dark, brooding secrets and intrigue; arguably, there’s an inverse femme fatale at work, too, in the form of Rochester’s insane wife.
  • Jane rarely talks, which is unusual for a lead protagonist.
HOW IS THIS FILM SIMILAR TO REBECCA?
  • Both star Joan Fontaine, who plays a quiet, reserved, modest and innocent young woman in both.
  • Both films feature a main protagonist thwarted by a former or shunned wife.
  • Both depict the young woman coming to live in a dark Gothic English mansion ruled by a husband/moody aristocrat who cannot fully love the female lead until he solves the problem of his former or shunned spouse.
  • Both films end in a blaze of cleansing fire that destroys the mansion and the impediment between the female protagonist and her love interest.
THEMES EXPLORED IN JANE EYRE:
  • Redemption of the Byronic hero, defined as “an antihero of the highest order. He is typically rebellious, arrogant, anti-social or in exile, and darkly, enticingly romantic” and often attractive, according to Shmoop. The character of Rochester is often unlikable, but he is redeemed after attempting to rescue his wife from the blaze, causing him to lose his vision. His eyesight returning later suggests that he is worthy of Jane’s love and can see through new eyes.
  • The struggle between love and freedom/autonomy
  • Cruelty, suffering and injustice
  • The strength and resilience of a good soul. “I could crush you between my hands, but your spirit would still be free,” Rochester tells Jane.
  • The quest for belonging and being a part of a family
  • The hypocrisy of religious zealots
  • Gender inequality and class/social differences
  • The contrast between beauty on the inside versus beauty on the outside.
  • The notion of “the self.” Karen Swallow Prior, essayist for The Atlantic, wrote: “Perhaps the first novel to best express the modern idea of the self was Jane Eyre.” “Brontë’s biggest accomplishment wasn’t in plot devices. It was the narrative voice of Jane—who so openly expressed her desire for identity, definition, meaning, and agency—that rang powerfully true to its 19th-century audience.” “The broader cultural implications of the story—its insistence on the value of conscience and will—were such that one critic fretted some years after its publication that the “most alarming revolution of modern times has followed the invasion of Jane Eyre.” Before the Reformation and the Enlightenment that followed, before Rene Descartes’s cogito ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”), when the sources of authority were external and objective, the aspects of the self so central to today’s understanding mattered little because they didn’t really affect the course of an individual’s life. The Reformation empowered believers to read and interpret the scriptures for themselves, rather than relying on the help of clergy; by extension, this seemed to give people permission to read and interpret their own interior world.” “No earlier novelist had provided a voice so seemingly pure, so fully belonging to the character, as Brontë.” 
OTHER FILMS THAT JANE EYRE BRINGS TO MIND:
  • I Walked with a Zombie, the 1943 B-movie by RKO/Val Lewton that adapted Jane Eyre into a horror film set in the West Indies
  • Other 20th Century Fox period piece movies of this time, including The Lodger, Hangover Square, and Dragonwyck
  • Citizen Kane, also featuring Orson Welles and other Mercury Theater collaborators
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • Bright Star
  • Onegin
  • The Invisible Woman
  • Rebecca
  • Wuthering Heights
OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY ROBERT STEVENSON:
  • Mary Poppins
  • Many Disney family films like Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Love Bug, and Old Yeller

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Next stop on our gothic romance tour: Thornfield Hall

Sunday, April 15, 2018

CineVerse's Quick Theme Quartet of four gothic romance movies continues on April 18 with “Jane Eyre” (1943; 97 minutes), directed by Robert Stevenson. Plus: a trailer reel preview of the May/June CineVerse schedule.

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Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...only it wasn't a dream after all

Thursday, April 12, 2018

The gothic romance film reached new heights in 1940 with the release of "Rebecca," based on Daphne du Maurier's bestseller and helmed by Alfred Hitchcock. Revisiting this picture all these years later, consensus holds that it still retains its power to captivate visually and thematically and ensnare you in its mysteries. CineVerse drew back the curtains from the west wing last evening and took a closer look at this classic. Here's what we found:

WHAT THEMES ARE EXPLORED IN REBECCA?

  • The struggle for identity. Consider how the new Mrs. DeWinter isn’t given a name and is constantly compared to her predecessor.
  • Envy. The protagonist is jealous of Rebecca’s beauty and prestige as well as the respect and awe she continues to generate from the servants and friends she left behind.
  • The power of the past. Max and his new bride seem prevented from being able to progress forward in their relationship because of the haunting legacy Rebecca has left behind. Rebecca’s power is represented in the Manderley mansion itself – once it burns down, Max is truly free of the past and can begin his life anew with his new wife.
  • An unfulfilled Cinderella. This is a rags to riches tale for the main protagonist, who seems to get her prince and fairytale happy ending early in the story. Yet she experiences much doubt, frustration and unhappiness after becoming a princess.
  • The illusion of happiness. It’s interesting that the only time we see Max and his new wife truly appearing happy together (smiling, laughing, acting playfully) is in home movie footage; and what is a movie but an illusion at 24 frames per second?
  • A flimsy relationship: we see their marriage certificate paper blowing precariously in the wind, suggesting how vulnerable their coupling is.
REBECCA HINTS AT DARK AND DISTURBING PSYCHOLOGICAL SUBTEXTS THAT THE CENSORS WOULDN’T ALLOW TO BE SPELLED OUT CLEARLY. CAN YOU IDENTIFY ANY?
  • There was a possible lesbian relationship between Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca. 
  • Max DeWinter represents a domineering patriarchal order and masculine drive to control, subjugate and punish females.
    • This type of character, the controlling male protagonist, is revisited by Hitchcock in films like Vertigo, Marnie and Notorious. 
  • Some experts theorize that there’s a subconscious pedophilic urge on Maxim’s part in his effort to keep his new bride as childlike as possible and an Elektra complex suffered by his new wife. 
    • Maxim is the father figure, while Mrs. Danvers, Mrs. Van Hopper and Rebecca herself represent threatening mother figures that the heroine must overcome.
    • The film’s heroine is often visually depicted as inferior and fragile to Maxim in camera angles and setups we see. In compositions with Max, she’s framed as lower than or equal to Max’s height throughout the movie until the crucial later scene in the boathouse when Max confesses and she towers over him—a sign of her newfound maturity.
    • She skips, fidgets with her hands, acts clumsily and is referred to as a child again and again.
WHAT IS INTERESTING ABOUT THE HEROINE’S NAME AND WHAT STATEMENT DOES THIS MAKE ABOUT THE CHARACTER?
  • She is nameless throughout and thus has no identity or importance until she marries Maxim and later, declares aloud: I am Mrs. DeWinter now.”
  • References to her as the second Mrs. DeWinter underscore how she’s second banana and inferior to the titular character.
  • Max often mentions how he prefers her to look young and childlike: “It’s a pity you have to grow up,” he tells his new wife.
WHY IS “REBECCA” AN APPROPRIATE TITLE FOR THIS STORY?
  • We don’t see the first Mrs. to winter at any time; we are shown no photo, painting or flashback scenes. 
  • Yet, she casts a dark pallor over the entire story, like a ghost haunting us from the grave.
  • Naming the tale after an unseen character is ironically appropriate, considering the real main character is shown but yet not named.
WHY IS REBECCA AN IMPORTANT MOVIE FOR HITCHCOCK, YET NOT CONSIDERED BY FILM CRITICS, SCHOLARS OR HISTORIANS A TRUE HITCHCOCK PICTURE?
  • This was Hitchcock’s first American film since emigrating from Britain a year before.
  • It won the Academy award for Best Picture and was highly popular.
  • However, the producer was David O. Selznick, a domineering and micromanaging Hollywood mogul who imprinted his statement more strongly on many of his films than the directors he hired to shoot them.
  • Consider Selznick’s previous achievement, “Gone With the Wind,” which endured four directorial changes at Selznick’s whim and also won the Best Picture Oscar; Selznick is considered to be that movie’s auteur. The same is arguably true of “Rebecca,” although it’s obvious that Hitchcock’s style and design are prevalent throughout the movie.
  • This Hitchcock film doesn’t explore many of the themes and motifs used in many subsequent and previous pictures, including the icy blonde, the wrong man, the MacGuffin, a dysfunctional mother-son relationship, guilt and obsession, etc.
  • It’s also much longer in duration and more romantically focused than films Hitchcock had made up to this point.
OTHER FILMS THAT REMIND US OF REBECCA:
  • Suspicion
  • Dragonwyck
  • Jane Eyre
  • Marnie
  • Laura

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Manderley (and the Master of Suspense) calls you home

Sunday, April 8, 2018

CineVerse's current Quick Theme Quartet, The Gothic Romance Hits Hollywood, continues on April 11 with “Rebecca” (1940; 130 minutes), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, chosen by Danealle Kueltzo

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Hardly withering from its heights

Thursday, April 5, 2018

The year 1939 is considered the greatest in Hollywood history for several good reasons – among them, the theatrical releases of "Gone With the Wind," "The Wizard of Oz," "Stagecoach," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Ninotchka," "Gunga Din," and" Dark Victory." Among that crowd, it's hard for a given film to stand out, but William Wyler's "Wuthering Heights" certainly deserves to be in the conversation for best of the bunch. At last night's CineVerse meeting, we suggested compelling reasons why and also explored the film's importance in the gothic romance subgenre that took root during this era. Here's a roundup of our discussion points:

WUTHERING HEIGHTS INCLUDES MANY ELEMENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS OFTEN FOUND IN THE GOTHIC ROMANCE FILM SUBGENRE. CAN YOU NAME SOME OF THESE TRAITS?

  • The story involves a romance as well as elements of horror and mystery. This combination is drawn from the template for gothic fiction (also known as gothic horror), which Wikipedia defines as “a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance or happiness.”
  • There is an atmosphere of suspense and dangerous intrigue.
  • The characters’ relationships or romances are often doomed or haunted, and sometimes involve love triangles.
  • Often, the lovers face challenges related to class distinction or social rank.
  • There can be a hint of paranormal activity or supernatural/ghostly forces.
  • The story typically occurs within or near a large, brooding castle or mansion that boasts Gothic architecture.
  • Dark secrets and/or scandals are commonly plot twists or catalysts.
  • The visual style usually employs chiaroscuro high-contrast lighting and shadowy atmospheric sets and effects – borrowing generously from horror and film noir movies.
  • The protagonist is often isolated and doubtful of the veracity of his or her love interest.
  • One or more servants play an important supporting role in the story.
  • According to Infoplease, the Gothic romance in literature was a “type of novel that flourished in the late 18th and early 19th cent. in England. Gothic romances were mysteries, often involving the supernatural and heavily tinged with horror, and they were usually set against dark backgrounds of medieval ruins and haunted castles. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole was the forerunner of the type, which included the works of Ann Radcliffe , Matthew Gregory Lewis , and Charles R. Maturin , and the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey satirizes Gothic romances. The influence of the genre can be found in some works of Coleridge, Le Fanu, Poe, and the Brontës. During the 1960s so-called Gothic novels became enormously popular in England and the United States. Seemingly modeled on Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, these novels usually concern spirited young women, either governesses or new brides, who go to live in large gloomy mansions populated by peculiar servants and precocious children and presided over by darkly handsome men with mysterious pasts. Popular practitioners of this genre are Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Catherine Cookson, and Dorothy Eden.”
THEMES PREVALENT IN WUTHERING HEIGHTS
  • The poisonous power of jealousy
  • The destructive power of love, particularly unrequited love – love that turns from a blessing to a curse
  • Master and servant
  • Social status and rank as impediments to love and happiness
  • The struggle between the civilized and the wild. The former is represented by the Linton clan and the Grange, who embody sophistication, culture and good breeding. The latter is represented by Heathcliff, Kathryn, the Earnshaws, the Wuthering Heights home, and the moors.
    • The moors personify “freedom and danger, a symbol of Heathcliff and Kathryn’s love that is trampled by the forces of order,” wrote Literary Hub blogger Craig Hubert.
  • The folly of wishing the world would never change
  • Doubles and dual natures: consider how this story has many matching or contrasting pairs – Heathcliff and Catherine view themselves as identical and soulmates; the Grange and Weathering Heights stand as to opposite structures that symbolize disparate cultures and values; Catherine has two sides to her personality, one that desires Heathcliff and one that yearns for Edgar. Note that when she’s indoors, she is Edgar’s woman; when she’s outdoors and on the moors, she’s Heathcliff’s woman.
  • Ghostly apparitions and the supernatural. Catherine’s ghost is supposedly seen or heard by villagers, and Catherine and Heathcliff’s spirits are depicted in the final shot.
MOTIFS (REPEATED PATTERNS) OBSERVED IN WUTHERING HEIGHTS:
  • Love triangles
  • Windows
  • Angels and devils
  • Heather
OTHER MOVIES SIMILAR TO WUTHERING HEIGHTS:
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • Tess
  • The Age of Innocence
  • Emma
  • Tuck Everlasting
  • Water for Elephants
  • Twilight
  • Serena
OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY WILLIAM WYLER:
  • Jezebel
  • The Little Foxes
  • Mrs. Miniver
  • The Best Years of Our Lives
  • Roman Holiday
  • The Big Country
  • Ben-Hur
  • Funny Girl

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CineVerse falls head over heels for the gothic romance subgenre

Sunday, April 1, 2018

On April 4, CineVerse begins another Quick-Theme Quartet. This foursome is called "The Gothic Romance Hits Hollywood." "Quick-theme” months explore movies tied together by a theme. Over the next 4 weeks, CineVerse will feature four acclaimed and memorable gothic romance films released during Hollywood’s golden age. Week 1: “Wuthering Heights” (1939; 104 minutes), directed by William Wyler. Plus: a trailer reel of other gothic romance films.

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